


together.

by Nyxierose



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 18:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxierose/pseuds/Nyxierose
Summary: Or, the one where Lucy almost dies and Garcia Flynn absolutely REFUSES to bury another wife.





	together.

Unfortunately, like all significant tragedies, it's simple - they're in the midst of the London Blitz, for reasons that remain slightly confusing or maybe just weren't explained to him in the first place, and everything is going as swimmingly as can be under the circumstances and then the building behind them just… explodes.

Flynn has spent most of his adult life in war zones and has the scars and reflexes to prove it, but even that is not enough at the most vital moment. He tries - gods, he tries - but his hand slips from his wife's as he drops to the ground and he knows, even as he himself fades out of consciousness, that he will regret this moment for the rest of his life. All the things he's said about protecting her, all the times he's taken seemingly-unnecessary risks, and _this_ is when he fucks up.

(They've been married for a month and a half, technically. It's a bit complicated with paperwork, and he's not entirely sure it's legal enough for them to file taxes together assuming their lives are _ever_ quiet enough for such mundane bullshit, but he made vows he intends to keep and put a ring on her finger and he supposes that's enough.)

Lost in his mind, he thinks about her. Lucy, second chance he doesn't deserve and oh how he reminds her of that detail, who has seen the worst of him on so many occasions and loves him anyways. She sought him out when he was drowning and told him there was still light left in his soul, and she has stood by his side for the past two years as a friend and teammate and the past year as a lover. (The marriage was, admittedly, a little sudden - but he knew what he wanted long before he took a detour and found a ring, and fact is, Lucy Flynn is a hell of a lot harder for certain assholes to keep track of than Lucy Preston ever was.) She is different from his past, yes, but he supposes Lorena would approve if she were to look down from heaven for a moment to see what he's been up to since she was taken from him. So, so different, but in a way he values and-

He shocks awake and quickly assesses his surroundings. Back in his own timeline, on some kind of hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, and alone. Oh, and in a ton of pain. Whatever the hell they've put in his body, it's either not working or not a strong enough dosage for the sheer amount of him. Or both. That's happened before, he wouldn't be surprised, and-

Of all people, naturally Jiya is the one who wanders into the room just as he's starting to wonder some vital details. Flynn objectively likes her, despite the fact that he occasionally refers to her as the team mascot (she kinda _is_ by default and it's an affectionate nickname okay), and she's… maybe not the person he _wants_ to see right now, but at least proof positive that he's where he belongs.

"What happened?" His voice sounds like sandpaper and feels worse, and yeah, every cell in his body is at the very least sore.

"Building kinda… collapsed, I guess." Jiya is hesitant, like there's some detail she's badly avoiding, and oh gods no not _that_ not-

"Lucy?"

"Is in the other room. Still out. She's… she's alive. That's all we know for sure. And whatever the hell you're thinking, the answer is no. You need to heal up before you see her."

He mentally assesses his body, separating out every distinct feeling that indicates an injury. A lot of bruises, some minor burns, a bandage around his left thigh and another on his abdomen. Objectively _less_ wounded than he expected to be, and dammit he should've tried harder. He should've tackled her, in that last second, and shielded her from the worst of the impact and-

"Hey. Earth to Flynn. You okay?"

"I should've saved her."

"You did. The way Wyatt found you guys… you did. She's still alive because of you."

It's not enough - the mere thought of Lucy being in _any_ pain he could've prevented is still too much - but it's something, he supposes. He doesn't like being separated from her, but he understands why. Right now, there's nothing he can do for her anyways.

For the next three days, as much as he absolutely hates it, he accepts the circumstances. He sleeps a lot, accepts that he is not a priority, and makes it clear to Denise how he feels about painkillers. (He's still surprised when she of all people sees the humanity in him, and when she comes back the next day with a bottle of something that actually _works_ and enough of it to make him semi-functional until his injuries heal up, he almost short-circuits.) Nobody is willing to tell him what condition Lucy is in beyond that she's alive and will stay that way, but he forces himself to stop asking questions that won't get answered. Bad enough that it'll break him, probably, but _alive_. It's something.

The fourth day after he wakes up, they let him see her. The IV has been unhooked by now and he's able to move without assistance, and the downgrading of his own state of emergency has him thinking about a lot of other things. Like the unfortunate reality of probably owing Wyatt a fruit basket, if not a damn kidney or something. And the guilt, consuming him, of having once again failed a woman he loves.

Lucy is too good for him. Flynn has known this from the moment he met the future version of her and she saved him, and he has learned it more thoroughly in the years since then with the version of her that parallels his own timeline. Yet she has chosen him so many times, and she will again as soon as she is whole again, and it is more than he will ever deserve, and-

Seeing her there, fragile and still and surrounded by monitors, is too much. And he runs.

He cannot lose another person he loves. He _will_ not. Hell, he was a wreck that week she got the flu - not even some scary variant kind, just regular winter flu - and she was lucid for almost all of that. The fact that it's been almost a week and she hasn't fully woken up yet is absolutely terrifying, and the fact that there's still hope isn't enough to numb that. Nothing will.

He's not sure how far he pushes his body, but by the time he loops back to the safehouse, he feels like something has run him over. The recent tragedy, an old building collapsing on him, hurt _less_ than this self-inflicted exhaustion.

He finds his way through the hallways, does't even notice the looks the others give him, and collapses in the chair in their room. Someone at least had the sense to put Lucy in their familiar space, where she belongs, and he supposes that's good somehow, and-

When he wakes, she's staring at him.

He missed her eyes. He has missed every damn thing she is, with an intensity and pain that he did not know was possible (and it's not like last time, not at all, this is such a different tone), but he's overwhelmed by that alone and oh this is not going to be an easy process for _anyone_.

"You're alive," she breathes.

"So are you."

He's gotten a little better at emotional expression over the past couple years, but Lucy is still the only person on the team who's seen him fall apart on multiple occasions. He crashes, hard, and it's different without being able to touch her but at least she's _there_. At least she's alive and making progress, watching him from the required safe distance, still catching him as best she can.

(She is, and will always be, too good for him.)

"I love you," he murmurs as soon as he can speak again. Three little words, over and over, repeated in every language he knows until her eyes close. "Volim te. I love you."

It's going to be a long couple weeks - or months, probably months - until everything is right again.

Thirty-six hours after Lucy regains full consciousness, the Mothership jumps again and there is absolutely no choice. He kisses her forehead before he leaves, which is probably too much but feels like not enough, and then spends three and a half days trying to make sure the war crimes of 'Nam aren't somehow made worse. (What exactly Rittenhouse is trying to do there, Flynn once again has no damn clue, but his job on the mission is mostly to serve as a distraction - hey, his accent works _great_ when he's stuck anywhere during the Cold War, and he can be just charming enough that nobody notices the rest of the team sneaking through a side entrance.) No one gets hurt, and it's a surprisingly calm mission by their standards. His wounds from the last mission are healing, though he has to admit his physical endurance isn't what it usually is, and at some point Jiya somehow gets her hands on a piece of intel that… honestly, if it is what it looks like, might be the end. Finally, _finally_ , a victory.

The possibility of ending the war is a rush he doesn't have words for, but along with it come complications. What will become of the team once they're not needed for their current purpose. He himself has never had a plan for after the war - never thought he'd live that long, really. He supposes he wants some kind of quiet life now, but the details will of course depend upon what Lucy wants. She has so much more to give the world, if she so desires, and he trusts her judgment and-

When he reaches their room, she's sitting on the edge of the bed and there are no wires attached to her body. It's more progress than he expected she'd make, though he knows recovery will still be a battle for her, and he fights back the desire to lift her up in his arms and twirl her around. (He did that _once_ , okay? And once was apparently enough for her, but it was still lovely.)

"I worried about you."

Her voice is still weak, and he knows it's a lot for her to be this functional right now, and there are so many things running through his mind as he sits down next to her. On some level it's probably wrong to be so close to her until she's a little more together, but the only thing that's gotten him through the past week and a half has been the desire to curl up around her and-

As if on cue, she collapses against him. So fragile, and that's not a word he usually uses to describe her, and her head rests over his heart and it's like every moment of his life has led up to this one.

"Don't. Not now. You need to-"

"Not you too. Please."

His arms wrap around her and he pulls her close. Too much, not enough. "Lucy. Darling. I thought I'd lost you. I thought I'd failed you. I couldn't live with that."

"You saved me," she breathes. "They said… when they found us, our hands were entwined. If I'd been six inches further from you. I would've died. But-"

"You almost _did_."

"But I didn't. I'm here."

The guilt, still wrapped around his neck like a noose, loosens enough for him to breathe well for the first time since the accident.

"I'm not leaving you again. The others can complete the victory without me."

That in turn requires some explaining, and he's surprised that Lucy's able to stay awake through it. She's healing, he objectively knows that, but watching it happen is still a beautiful process. Another couple weeks and she'll be fully back to her ideal form, and he is absolutely not leaving her side until that happens. (And probably not afterwards either. Everything he has left is wrapped up in her.)

And sure enough, when the chance comes two weeks later and the end dawns, he stays behind. He lets the rest of the team - all of them, even Connor has a role in the grand assault - go and take down Rittenhouse once and for all in the present. It's easy enough to justify; _someone_ has to stay behind with Lucy, and he's the logical choice.

While everyone else he cares about fights a battle, he lies with his wife under a pile of blankets and focuses on her steady breathing. She's able to move around decently now, and she barely takes the painkillers she's still allowed (though he suspects that's mostly due to stubbornness). She's able to do all the things that matter to her, a month after the accident, but she's still weak and still spends most of her time resting in some form. Surprisingly, she hasn't questioned her limits as much as everyone expected. Instead, she's accepted her sidelining - maybe, he can't help but think, because she's not alone.

"So what happens to us after we get the call?" she asks. Her head is on his chest, his fingers tangled in her hair, and it's the closest thing to a cute domestic moment that they've ever had.

"We spend the next month if we're lucky, several months if we're not, getting debriefed by every agent and politician who questions our story. After that… I don't know. There isn't an obvious plan for you and I."

For the others, it's easier. Connor has had years to plan his next rise from the ashes, and he intends to do it with Rufus and Jiya (who in their personal lives have plans to get properly married with a big wedding and everything, get a Saint Bernard, and adopt a couple kids - _ideally_ in that order) as public co-creators. Denise is retiring, technically a few years earlier than she's required to but nobody's gonna blame her once they hear what she's spent the past couple years herding around. Wyatt has a wife and child out there somewhere (last anybody checked, Jessica's still alive) and he intends to find them and see about starting over one more damn time.

Garcia and Lucy Flynn, on the other hand, have no clear direction. But they have time, he reminds himself, and they will figure something out.

"They'll give us time," she murmurs, echoing his own thoughts so perfectly. "And didn't Denise say something about crisis pay?"

Yeah, come to think of it, that _is_ a thing. And in their case, likely a very good one. But that too will be figured out later, once they are officially released to live private lives. For now…

For now, he kisses her - still dangerous, she's made that clear, but a light kiss or two is okay - and lets himself accept that they have a future.

"You have to work on the journal," he reminds her. "And then go back and… do that, in a year or so."

"Might take me an entire year to do that," she laughs. "You're still helping, right?"

"Of course. Seeing my own handwriting alongside yours…"

"I know. We'll do it together. And then… I don't know. Maybe I'll keep writing."

Sure enough, the next three months are a hell the likes of which he's never known before. He fights to be allowed to stay with Lucy as much as possible, but their backgrounds are so different and it becomes apparent that while being married means they can't testify against each other in court (at least he thinks that's how it works), it offers no protection in their slightly more complex situation.

They get each other at night. That's enough. In a series of cheap hotel rooms, they hold each other close. He dares not even think of more, doesn't even properly kiss her again until what ends up being the final day of their tour.

It's been a very long week, made worse by the sudden media interest in their story. Most of the press have been pawned off on Denise, who - despite being a queer brown woman in an environment that's still not sure what to do with any of those things - remains the most respectable member of the team and knows how to behave herself during an interview that uninvolved parties will see. However, today is intended to be public and there are cameras and microphones everywhere as they walk up the steps and suddenly holding Lucy's hand is not enough and Garcia Flynn gets one of the dumbest ideas of his life and runs with it. In the middle of a flight of stairs, with a serious audience, he leans down and kisses his wife as dramatically as he can manage. It's a _lot_ , and for a few moments he's worried she's not gonna go with it (she hates PDA, he knows that, that one time they had to as a distraction on a mission was a _mess_ for her), but then she reaches up and loops her arms around his neck and yeah, she knows and she's enjoying this just as much as he is.

Surprisingly, no pictures of the incident end up on any website either of them ever sees. Probably because that's the same day Mason Industries 3.0 is launched, and that's way more fascinating than two people nobody's ever heard of, but it's still convenient.

(After, they rebuild. After, they get a house in a lesser Midwestern city and Lucy starts writing like she planned and Flynn… supports her, in his weird way, and helps her through the bad days yet to come, and when he's not doing that he attempts to restore the house to its original 1920s glory and fails _so hard_. But it's an outlet, and he likes working with his hands, and he learns.)

(After, they sorta accidentally have a kid and then completely intentionally get a cat.)

(After, each of them takes one loop into the other's timeline and then swears off time travel forever.)

(But right now, the day after the official end, she undoes him on the final shitty-hotel bed they ever sleep in and it is definitely the best day of his life for every reason he can think of.)


End file.
